Free Catalogues which need to be entered in Stanza

Here we go. Now that Amazon is clearly making it difficult for us to get even the free books from the usual catalogues, we are on our own. Here's the list I extracted in advance from the lexcycle catalogue which no longer appears to exist.

Please note that the oreilly and allromance books catalogues are truncated in the text above. So don't copy the text itself. Hover over the links and copy the link location instead. also, the Munseys link has TWO http. Only one is needed.

I would edit the post itself but the system wont let me, even though I was the one who posted it.

Get Books -> Edit -> Add Book Source Then enter Project Gutenberg in the top text entry box, and http://m.gutenberg.org in the bottom one. Choose OPDS Catalog. It should work, but if not, try choosing Web Page instead. Once you have the source entered, you will need to stop the edit process (having saved it) and touch the Project Gutenberg listing. It should take you to a new page. which will have the categories etc listed.

In other words, when entering catalog sources, take the OPDS option first, because their formatting is much neater. Choose Web Page only if OPDS fails (which it will, with Munseys, for example)

Todd, this has nothing at all to do with a laptop. It is specifically for Stanza users on iphone. Theres a place where you can enter your own catalogues and thats where these entries must go. You go into Get books --> Shared --> Edit --> Add Book Source.

Todd's right, since I had the same confusion at first. Before you try to fill something in, there's no "Edit" button, only a "+" sign. The interface changes (what a strange bug) after you've entered your first resource. I see the edit button appear now.

Thanks SO SO SO much for this info, Kyteflyer. I was fed up with the error message and devastated when I read that most people were saying there was no hope for Stanza. Hmm... can we post this FAQs link in a review on iTunes...?

I couldn't get the Munseys catalog to work, even deleting the extra http:// (and checking that the colon was in the right place). Anyone else having a similar problem? I can load the page fine in my laptop Chrome browser, but not on my iPhone Stanza.

Edit: Never mind. I entered it as a Webpage instead and Munseys worked fine.

Anyone know the link for Books on Board's catalog, by chance? Thanks again, kyteflyer; you've given me many more hours of reading enjoyment.

Some catalogs were created and maintained by and on lexcycle's site and therefore, they are no more (at least the handy OPDS versions of the sites, such as Munseys, *sigh*). They kept their entire catalog listing there as well, which is why the error shows up in Stanza since the site closed down.

Does anyone know the alternative OPDS catalog for Feedbooks? I've been looking for it for a while now and can only find the same one that's listed here. What I'm talking about is the one that used to be in Stanza and is still in/comes with at least two other ebook readers (so it still exists). The one listed here starts off like an OPDS catalog, but almost immediately takes you to the website. I really like the ease of use of OPDS and this alternative catalog acts like a full fledged catalog.

In case you're interested in seeing what I'm talking about, the two other readers are MegaBooks and ShuBook - not bad readers, but no Stanza...yet.

I don't think there is another catalog address for Feedbooks. I know it was presented differently by the Stanza catalog, so was Munseys (as that is, too, in some alt. readers)... but I can't get the information and requests for same from both locations have been completely ignored.

I've also been trying to find a Stanza alternative. I'm sure that come the next iOS update, its going to stop working. I've asked a couple of guys in the beta test for 5.2 to get Stanza and tell me if it works but so far no response from either.

I'm using iBooks a bit, but its still not enough. I paid for Megareader and find it a bit better now you can sideload but i seriously detest the long list of books. Clearly, you arent meant to have more than about 20 on board at once. Anything more than that becomes unwieldy. I've used Bluefire. Its not bad, but you can't add any sources. I have paid for iReader, and am not particularly impressed with that, I have also paid for eBooksMobi and ReadMe. Both have potential. Of the two I prefer ReadMe. Its closest in appearance to Stanza but does not have all the functionality.

So like everyone else... I'm still using Stanza.

I've half decided that if the next update to the OS breaks stanza I'm going to buy an Android Device (with a 5" screen) from China, and use that as a reader. I was going to get the Samsung Note but thats way too expensive. I find both Moon+ Reader Pro, and fbReader (more the latter of late) to be excellent subsitutes for Stanza. In fact, fbReader on my Huawei Sonic (same dpi and size screen as my 3GS) is a much sharper and cleaner reading experience... go figure. But I still need iphone for everything else.

Thank you so much for this post! I just tried to get to the catalog yesterday and was so bummed that Amazon shut it down. I'm sure that at some point, the links will become defunct as usage decreases, so am downloading as many titles as possible before that happens.

Actually, the OPDS catalog format is an open standard trying to gain momentum. The catalogs that lexcycle created, maintained and hosted are gone, but the others aren't going anywhere soon - other ebook readers use them too (see my post above for two such readers).

And then theres Amazon buying up bookstores by the dozen, and trying to kill off the opposition. Amazon wants every other online store to disappear. It wants *all* the books trade, both electronic and hardcopy. The only holdouts will be places like Gutenberg etc. I doubt that Baen will cave, but then, I never thought The Book Depository would, either.

Amazon is absolutely using Microsoft's tactics to dominate the market. They are decimating the competition. They make it nearly impossible for authors like Hugh to have any other option other than working with Amazon. I have to admit, that before I became aware of what Amazon was doing with Stanza, I had no idea that they are operating in this manner (although I'm not surprised) and it absolutely disgusts me. Thank you for posting this information, let's hope that we can at least extend the life of Stanza on the iPad/iPhone until the next OS upgrade

Well, its been over 2 years since much activity in this forum. I've been keeping tabs on Stanza, even though I have subsequently purchases *many* other ebook readers. Some of the catalogs are now dead (Baen and Books on Board) but the good news is that Stanza works *almost* completely, in iOS7x. Don't try using the dictionary, it will crash. Everything else seems OK.